Number one reason BlackBerry PlayBook sales are lacking is due to no native email client

Sitting in on a panel today regarding the BlackBerry Runtime for Android App Player, we learned quite a bit about what's to come down the line for Android apps on the BlackBerry PlayBook. It definitely looks like there will be plenty of apps ported over from Android to play around with. One thing that was said was that the number one reason the BlackBerry PlayBook sales have been so poor is due to the lack of a native email client (the number two reason is lack of apps). While this isn't a secret, it's more obvious now that consumers are really after a solid tablet that can provide a native email experience with an app (not with Bridge). We still have no idea when we'll see the native PIM apps like email and calendar some to the PlayBook, but hopefully they aren't too far down the pipeline at this point. We did see RIM show off these native apps back at BlackBerry World this year (see video above) but they are still nowhere to be found. Just goes to show that RIM should have listened to us back at CES when we told them a tablet with no native email would never work :-)

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Number one reason BlackBerry PlayBook sales are lacking is due to no native email client

This is crazy. What tablet does have a native email program. The number one problem the playbook has is a crappy Blackberry Marketing department. The email that comes on my Playbook is far more secure than the email that any other tablet can get because it has the best email program all ready. i get my email through the Blackberry Bridge. Cellcom Empoloyee

The easy solution to all your problems - just get the iPad. If a native email app is that important to just go out and get a device that has one. I don't regret getting the iPad, I like it a lot. It's a consumers market so get what you want, don't wait for someone. If the Playbook has features that you just can't live without then just wait for the native email but if you can live without the Playbooks features then choose another device.

djr35
anybody have the prez's email? i think he could use a couple copies of these posts directly. i too have a 700 dollar paper weight and wonder if he would like to buy mine back since its such an incredible device and does so much or should i say is going to do so much one day.....pretty soon hes gonna promise us a moonrock if we buy into his someday it'll be something ideal....and were gonna all sit patiently by and tell all our friends were gonna get moonrocks too. i think if you look up bridges in the desert for sale, you'll find the same guy hawking them. my playbook hit craigslist today after getting all the someday soon , in there near future, just around the corner answers. they have the urgency of a sloth crossing the hot tarmack. im out and blackberry i hope will recognize im not alone ....im gonna sit back and watch their stock and market share continue to plumit and all other platforms simply blow them out of the water. i hope for all you guys a crackberry this isnt your full time job because you might wanna start talking to apple or google blackberry cant even keep their own employees working on this one.

Summer? Isn't this a replay of Blackberry world last spring? What a joke its October and they had an email and calendar app in beta back after launch and we still have no native e-mail. PlayBook development was pushed aside and everyone conveniently forgot about PlayBook when the BB7 devices hit.

Mostly agree. Yes, native mail is important as the device needs to be standalone and not dependent on having a BlackBerry smartphone. Non-BlackBerry users won't buy the PlayBook since they will only have WiFi access -- you can't take it anywhre. A 3G version of the PlayBook will sorta fix that, but it still needs to have native mail & calendar!

if I may, I am a playbook owner since day one of release, it is such a great device I can't understand the negative comments. I am not a "tech" guy but merely an early adaptor. I believe this will evolve, as will RIM and you will see two distinct platforms.Maybe three RIm Apple and Androiid.

Rather than easing these enhancements out little by little into the market, we are planning to bundle a number of significant features and enhancements into a new major software release for PlayBook that will be demonstrated at DevCon in October and released thereafter. The ability to push out upgrades over the year to PlayBook is a significant advantage, and both existing and new PlayBook users will be able to benefit from this new software release when it is available.

Some of the key enhancements that we expect to be delivered in the PlayBook 2.0 release are: built-in native email, calendar and contacts; robust enterprise features, including BlackBerry Balance to allow management of personal liable devices; the previously announced Android app player; enhanced web browsing; the availability of new consumer apps and social -- the availability of new consumer apps and multimedia and video content, including BlackBerry video store, which will have 10,000 movies and TV shows available on demand to buy or rent as well as new movie releases on the same day as DVD availability; and of course, with the built-in HDMI output, the ability to enjoy videos on your TV without the need to purchase additional system components, as well as further improvements to BlackBerry Bridge.

I still don't see the point of native email on a tablet that won't be with you all the time like your smart phone would. What's so hard about checking email via the web like you would on a computer/laptop.

As I mentioned above, I have about a dozen email accounts. They all funnel into Outlook on desktop, they funnel into the All Messages icon on my BB 9700 and in my email icon on my ipod touch. Without bridging the PB, I would have to log into multiple webmail accounts, tedious and time-consuming.

Now that I've ordered a 4S and will be losing my BB 9700, I was hoping OS 2 would "bridge" the gap with native email & PIM. Now it doesn't look like that will happen anytime soon.

So frustrated with RIM...love their products but hate their rollouts and decision making in the last year. they went from being an industry leader to a pathetic runner up trying to play catch up.

i got the playbook two weeks ago and have been marathoning it everyday since. love the multitasking, screen display, small size, and webpage rendering for the most part. hate the good-at-best connectivity via tether and the fact it drains my torch and heats up the battery to 98degrees while doing so (usual temp is low 80s). hate the limited apps, especially business-related as its marketed as a business prof grade tablet. hate the buggy show keyboard function which works when it wants to, dissappearing mid type so you click a web ad, and cant close the new tab quick enough before the extended address bar closes.

i wouldnt dare show this off unless its on wifi, which is frustrating.

Sadly, it looks more like Decemeber. :( I cant understand why they didn't even show a video of it at the conference even if it isnt done. If it is the number one thing causing people not to buy it, release the fraking thing!@

I'm getting frustrated too! I just got my 32G Playbook in August & now the stores are offering $200 gift card...wth!! Also i use the yahoo icon but it is slow to load or stops half way & I find the battery needs to be charged more often. I'm not into games so alot of the apps don't appeal to me...but would. love to see improvements as soon as possible!!

I'm content as long as I have Bridge. I'm picky, I'm techy, and I like the best. But for my needs/uses, my 9850/PB works great.

Here at work, we have a web-based product that the iPad2 couldn't fully utilize. I just happen to have my PB on me the day they were testing our site on iPad2s. One of the testers (also iPad2 user/owner) asked if he could view our site on my PB and of course I agreed. They were able to see and utilize features that they couldn't on the iPad2. And I got a kick from his reactions and comments which consisted of: "Oooo cool" (several times), "iPad doesn't have that", "It's the small things that make a difference", "I love the stereo speakers up front vs the speakers behind the iPad, wtf is that about!?" lol

Sadly, this comes down to marketing more than anything else. Webmail renders great on a PB, and that would have likely sufficed for most consumer-level users. But it was a weakness, and one that competitors were eager to exploit.

There's a glimmer of hope in this, though: when RIM addresses this in Playbook OS 2.0, a lot of people may be ready to give the tablet another look. I'm advising anyone interested in a tablet now to grab a PB at the current discounted prices, since I anticipate it being a much more appealing device with the new system software.

The other bright spot is that App World is considerably better than it was two months ago, and gets better every day. With the new Android support baked in, there should be dozens--if not hundreds--of additional new apps ready when PB OS 2.0 rolls out.

if you only have ONE webmail account, webmail might suffice. But I have about a dozen email accounts from various sources and I don't want to have to log into each one, tediously, one after the other, to get email. Also, the big discounts, I believe, are over. I need kind of an "All Messages" icon the way I have on my Bold 9700. Even my iPod Touch gathers all my email under one icon. I can look at the total list of emails or view them separately, by account, as I can on the 9700. But my 9700 will be gone soon and I'll lose the bridged-email on the PB.

I agree with the post that the lack of email (and a PIM suite!) has killed sales, especially for a tablet from a company whose primary strength has been the handling & delivery of email. It made for an easy joke for reviewers and, by extension, made the PlayBook a joke or, worse, considered a lightweight tablet contender.

This whole this summer of 2011, 2012, sometime in the foreseeable future, wishy-washy promising of dates is what drove my frustration in jumping ship. I was *sure* the OS 2 rollout would happen this week. When it wasn't even mentioned during the keynotes, my heart sank. They've gone from promising dates that come and go unnoticed, to not even bothering to offer a date. It just feels like we'll be twisting in the wind for months.

Had to return my PlayBook because I can't run my eBay business! Not able to print my shipping labels! Dedicated blackberry user for years and sad I have to use a different brand tablet! Blackberry tech support says no clue when printing will be available! Oh well

Lazaridis is suffering from deterioation of intellectual faculties, probably Alzheimer and Fregoli delusion. why have Devcom 2011 and you have nothing to deliver? Time for change and they must be fired.

So they say the top two reasons the Playbook is doing poorly are the two things that they said we would have in "Summer" but that are still not available, and we have no idea when they will be available?!?! Also people started pounding on them at CES about lack of native e-mail and they when ahead and ignored it all. RIM is its own worst enemy! These two features should have been priority 1 and 2 right after launch and they seem to be on some backburner. I can see Mike L looking over this information "That's just not fair, we gave them the bridge for e-mail!" Come on RIM, you have FIPS approval, you can connect it to BES, no excuses other than incompetence at this point.

I got my Playbook a week ago and I haven't made any comments becuase I wanted to use it for a while.

My questio/comments about the native email on the playbook:

Right now I like using the bridge function for for email/calendar/contacts becuase I do a lot of that on my phone anyways. When I am not using my phone I do the sames tasks on my computer.

We use Lotus notes at work. I wish I could sync more than one calendar over the air. I tired Goggle sync but I didn't really like it. It seemed to duplicate my calender entries and it didn't keep all of my entries. I think there was a date range that it would keep the calendar info.

Is there anyone out there who doesn't need native email on the Playbook and feels like this would just be another location that they would have to manage their email on?

The number of dumb, ill informed comments from users on this site over the last 36 hours is mind bottling. Summer? This beta has no PIM? If i download this app, will I have $80.05 left of "free" apps to download? Reading comprehension is insanely bad here.

I don't normally comment much on forums/discussions but I felt like I needed to say a few words.

Before I get a bashing from the trolls, let me say that I have been a loyal BB users for 5 yrs now and I still use BB for everyday use including business (I am a BES Admin)

I was hoping for at least something interesting at DevCon but I am so disappointed, no native email or Android player, not even a real demo of the new O/S, just a bunch of fancy screenshots and a poor presentation! No BBX super smartphones either, such a letdown!

It find it quite ridiculous that it defies belief; no native email client after being promised it in Summer this year, Christmas is just around the corner...I am getting tired with the wait and I thought I'd never say this but I am seriously considering the iPhone 4S. If I don't see the Android app or native email client before the end of the year I'm selling my 9900 and the Playbook. And from what I understand, my 9900 will be obsolete once the BBX platform is released next yr due to the fact that the current Java based O/S was practically ignored at devcon, not even upgradeable to the new BBX O/S.

And sorry but like it or not, apps DO matter and RIM have been given ample time to fix their half baked Playbook!

RIM have emphasised that nobody needs apps because the playbook browser is so good! Well, my experience with the Playbook browser has been a hit and miss and that is being kind to it...more than often the page will stop loading half way through and I have to relaunch it a few times, other times the browser suddenly crashes in the middle of something. I have tested this against my girlfriend's iPad and I never see these types of issues with Safari.

Apple are constantly innovative, they release products on time, they release pleasing 'fully functional' products and they work perfectly!

Like it or not, RIM need to wake up and fast because people are ditching the BlackBerry in droves, nearly everyone I know has an iPhone or an Android and I am the last one hanging on to my BB.

You might be surprised but I am still rooting for RIM. I believe that they can turn things around but at the current pace I am worried. Come on RIM, get your act together...how many people do you need to get these important features released to the public? You have money, hire them for crying out loud! I really don't get this company...Is it any wonder the investors are nervous!!!???

Native e-mail will be nice for some, even though you have an app from day one that allows you to log into google, msn, yahoo, e-mail. Since BB users are not the majority of users in the U.S. this should come in the near future.

Since I am a BlackBerry user for me this is not problem and the bridge feature has been saving me $50.00 bucks per month. I have not complaints and love the Playbook as is. However, I would like to product to become the smashing success it should be so native e-mail will help with that.

someone needs to take this video down......... can't believe an old video from May is been posted here to give us all hope that PB is getting its OS2.0....... enough of the torture, Crackberry should at least try to not add more insult to injury by giving PB users false hopes......

So true. My friend loves my Playbook (size, speed, power, etc). Even the lack of apps doesn't bother her. But the minute she found out that it couldn't do email natively...well...let's just say she enjoys her iPad2. She even admits the Playbook "feels" better. Trust me, from the numbers she wasn't the only one that made this choice.

Who knows, maybe her next tablet will be a Playbook 2. But her choice means she's investing in the user experience NOW which makes that more and more unlikely as the days pass without her seeing native email (except via Bridge) on my Playbook.

I don't know that the Foleo concept was such a bad idea; so far as I can tell it became more of a marketing disaster than a technical one.

As far as the BRIDGE is concerned, it works for me just fine. I'm extremely happy with it, and for me it represents as functional a solution as a native e-mail client would have.

It might have served RIM well to promote the PB specifically to BB users. I'm sure the uptake rate among BB owners was higher than it was among other brands' users, but I'm betting some well-applied discounts would have greased the wheels, got units moved, and generated some buzz.

so much stupid shit about some stupid email client, who needs it when you have Gmail? sheesh

indeed lotsa idiots and trolls here

I use Gmail web client for all my mail needs for years and keep laughing at bozos who can't get off their museum eudora and shit like that, hahaha come on guys it's the age of the web! it's 2011 for christ sake...

Yeah. Of course, all businesses should now move to Gmail and be at Google's mercy. For your info, most large companies and organizations don't even allow using third party email clients (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) for business communication. Sorry guys, there are professional "idiots" out there who do need an email client with IMAP/POP support. Now imagine you get an official mesage from a reputable company or a government agency with @gmail.com in the end.

its ok if your company uses Gmail but mine doesnt and instead of having to unpack a bloody laptop on a train each time to keep connected with work the PB would have been ideal.
I dont believe ther are any more Trolls on this site than anyother just a lot of p**ssed off people who spent good money on promise of great things that seem to never materialise. If early bird and amail can creat the app then why with all the RIm developers they have RIM still cant get an application out there.
These promises of only a few months , after Devcon .....sorry these are the basics of any other tablet on the market at the moment even the £99 cheap imitation tablets fro china achieve more.
If some one could give a sensible argument or reason to buy a PB instead of an iPAd or even an Admas Ink then i would be interested to see what planet you live on

Here here...way too many people in denial on this site! BlackBerry til they die attitude...unreal, and they call people iSheep who actually appreciate the iPhone for what it is, a remarkable price of technology that needs to be admired and respected, not sh*t upon. It's all jealously at the end of the day. Like it not, people love an easy pleasant GUI that works 99% of the time. I used to love RIM products but now I am getting really tired of the same old crap phones they keep pushing out along with the same empty promises. I mean the 9360, what a joke! Who brings out a smartphone in 2011 with no touchscreen capability?

"so much stupid shit about some stupid email client, who needs it when you have Gmail? sheesh"

Web-based Gmail would be bearable if it were a) responsive as a native app (it isn't; it's laggy) and b) if the PlayBook's text input controls supported autocorrect/autotype, prediction and custom dictionary like their phones have had for, oh, a decade now.

Not having email hurt. Not having text input on par with the RIM 857 hurt. Both were a perfect storm of pain.

They could make it up to us, though: find a way to allow us to use our BlackBerry's keyboard as an Bluetooth HID keyboard on the PlayBook.

I can't believe the number of idiots who commented about the release coming in "summer" and "real soon" and freaking out about it. It's probably pointless to rebut them because they've clearly demonstrated no desire to read.

Adam, you should add a second video to this post that explains the video was filmed months ago and "summer" meant summer 2011, and RIM is late. Video seems to be the only way to communicate with some people.

No Native email until summer????
Sorry RIM looks like another playbook going on ebay for a few quid as who wants to buy one, I downloaded OS2 beta yeaterday and so far although no apps to go with it looking more like an ipad each days. Who wants swiping and differant boards, we want aps.
I sat today witha work collegue who has just bought an iPad 2 and although he hasnt used one before and if honest i havent used one for any great length of time as i have the PB within 30 minutes i had set up his exchange email along with callender, facebook, tether, itunes, webex, citrix etc ect and im sat ther with a PB and the only thing i can do is facebook and tether. I couldnt even log into a webex session my company was running so had to get my laptop out and he is sat ther laughing at me and saying 'Ithought the Blackberry was suppose to be the choice of the business professional'

Who dumb do i look now for buying one of these. Both 9860 and PB up for sale to anyone who wants to offer something for them.
Im off to get a iPAD to go with my Galaxy s2 work phone as both of them rock.

"most of the posters here are TROLLS .. don't take anything they say seriously ..."

It's so obvious there are many trolls on crackbery some paid and some are not but the attack is the same. I just can not stand the isheep who's products truly suck. Apple is number #1 at propaganda and brainwashing. BTW I shorted AAPL at $223 yesterday as the AAPL bubble is going to crash. Google is number #1 and RIM is second . Apple is garbage and i laugh at the brainwashed puppets who couldn't form an independent thought without the aid of TV and the propaganda box.

What they were showing was greatly edited- its basically an enhanced version of the bridge app, with little to any difference from the existing one. Still java based, still laggy. There's a reason why you don't see the application opening.

Seeing as they scrapped the jde being in BBX, this goes out the window as well, and let me be the first to say good riddance to bad rubbish. Bring on the BBX made native apps.

I don't mind waiting another month or two for something that will be fluid UI that is enticing to use and not a laggy app that looks like a circa 1996 website, something that will open without thinking about it first for 10 seconds, and actually being able to click on delete and have it recognize I'm clicking delete.

Oh for Christ's sake, we don't need native Blackberry PIM we just need IMAP. There is no reason that connot be done except RIM blocking it. RIM is begining to look like total fool fiddling while Rome burns. They could have had email on the device at launch. They blocked Amail and EarlyBird.

Yes I agree. If I wanted to know anything about the iP4s I would have checked google NOT CrackBerry. I actually find it kind of insulting to see Apple or other competitors ads on CrackBerry.
Could CrackBerry be losing hope in RIM?

Bla1ze certainly makes the tough posts. I think it is part of the story and if we have the best devices out there then it is relevant and we should see the good with the bad.
However, the tone is not what I would expect at Crackberry either.
The numerous flaws of the iPhone seem overlooked. Bla1ze also posted hugely damaging pictures on the Bold 9930 and actually got me to hesitate on buying one. I'm glad I did, after watching real life photos by another user. I love my Bold and it takes great pictures. Again, a relevant subject? yes but the presentation was not fair in my view. The Bold does take great pictures and it takes them fast. A big improvement over my Torch1.
Bla1ze happens to have several devices and I think his input is great but the tone is not really fair. I once made a comment to him about how boring he made the new entry level devices and pointed out that even the entry level stuff is now way faster than the fastest device prior to OS7 (Torch1).
I like reading his posts but in an effort to present the other side of the story, which I like, he really seems to hold back on the great stuff about our devices.
For example, this post focuses on something that has nothing to do with the fact that we are getting all kinds of apps from the android player. A huge benfit and it focuses on RIM stumbling on native e-mail. Why? Net net, the Playbook just had a huge leap forward but after reading the post from Bla1ze it seems BlackBerry can't get anything done. I would focus on the improvements. By the way, he is in the thick of things so he probably knows better than I about native e-mail but the Playbook has several apps that allow people to log in to their web e-mail, such as Google, yahoo, etc. My wife does not have a BlackBerry phone (I still love her though) and she checks her e-mail all the time. However, a native calendar would be nice.
Anyway, I really enjoy my Playbook and the news on all the additional apps is great! I don't need native e-mail but I admit it would bring some new users to the platform and that would be good for RIM and them.
I love saving $50.00 per month compared to a 3G tablet. I purchased my first on launch day so I have basically paid for my Playbook thanks to bridge. How about a little credit to RIM there?

As I said, Bla1ze makes the tough posts and we want to hear them. I said the article was relevant.

I really wish you apple users would move to your own website. I read your post telling BlackBerry user how they will get over the physical keyboard and to just stick with it. I don't go to apple websites and tell them to switch to BlackBerry.

I don't even tough I like BlackBerry because it does not drop your calls, it does not do uncool things like ask Amazon's kindle to take off their buy button, which iPad users hate. It has NFC and that is not even on the iPhone 4S.

want more reasons? The BB+Playbook combination saves you $50.00 bucks per month vs. the 3G version and it has better speakers, processor, cameras and it is a more functional size. Further, it is the only tablet that has been approved for its security with the highest levels of the military. These are not views but facts.

But back to the main point. Why are you systematically trying to get BlackBerry users to switch to iPhone? This website is open to everyone but after reading some of your posts I'm just going to label you a troll.

I am not going to answer any more of your questions and frankly I wish you would go to your website. This website is for BlackBerry users trying to help each other out with the most customizable smart phone out there.

You are just an apple fanboy trying to hurt BlackBerry. Why don't you just go to their website and leave us alone.

This Playbook will go down as one of the most "poorly conceived devices of it's time"....Lazaridis walked off that stage, yesterday, like he had brought "REAL VALUE" to us and has no clue that he did not......

I'm also thinking that we will be lucky to see native email and OS 2.0 before May or June of 2012. Given the glacier-like pace, although to be fair glaciers do move faster, that RIM moves - you can kiss any though of native email or an official 2.0 release goodbye for 2011.

What bothers me the most is that Lazaridis and Balsillie seem to have no sense of urgency or concern. They act like everything is just peachy. I think what we are seeing here is a company sliding into irrelevance in realtime.

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